Talk:Mare Barrow/@comment-65.41.187.171-20180630193750/@comment-65.41.187.171-20180705175216
YES YES YES YES YES!!! I agree with everything you said with Cal being a symbol and that's why I love the idea of it. To me it just makes more sense because the history would be so much stronger. A brother on brother battle was something I expected to happen and when it didn't I was disappointed because I didn't see the need of Mare having the final battle with Maven. I would have loved to see Cal's point of view from the very beginning. If he was the war symbol (and even now) he had to battle himself on fighting for what he knows is right and wanting to please his father, as any child would. Growing up to be taught one way and then told something completely different can be very confusing so I can only imagine the internal battles he was going through. The King was not a man of politics, I completely agree with you on that. That was more of Elara's strength just like Cal to Maven. Cal's strength is also his biggest weakness. He's caring, he wants to help everybody and that's so sweet but like you said people will use that against him. That's why I love it, if he was the protagonist it's something he's going to have to learn to be aware of and he will have to learn to make some tough decisions and that could be so much character growth for him. I'm going to be honest, I completely forgot about Elara's role in this story and got super excited when you reminded me how strong of an influence she was. That could be his extrenal conflict! Well her and Maven but I haven't gotten there yet. Could you imagine how amazing a story this could create? She's his stepmother! Granted not a very good one but that's what makes the conflict even better. Elara hated Coriane and Cal is no doubt a spitting image of his mother so he's probably a constant reminder of things that Elara doesn't like. Elara was second best and in her mind as long as Cal was in the way then the one person she does care about (Maven) would also be second best. She got rid of one so why not the other. Oh my goodness I can so see it! Maven's role could be that much better. Cal may not have noticed it at first but to Maven they were always competing. Maven's betrayal would be that much more confusing for him. You introduced a really great scenario but theres a number of possibilities where Cal wouldn't have to die. For example, Maven could have "overheard" Cal discussing with the Red Guards about the attack that first killed so many silvers, could have went to confront him about it or even tell their father. Obviously the King is going to want to discuss this privately and that's when Elara strikes. The bowl of bones happens and the guard manages to save Cal. It's so many things that could happen! I did reread some parts of King's Cage and again I completely agree with the Cameron thing. In fact I've tried to tell people why she chose not to do certain things because she she saw first hand from Mare what revenge could do to a person (but you can imagine how those conversations went). I agree that everyone did not start on even grounds. It also must be hard that millions of people have watched you suffer. I will not take that from Mare , nobody deserves what Mare went through. However that still does not justify some of the things that she does. With the mindset she has with doing certain things she's no better than the people she's fighting. I hate the "lighting girl" title Mare was given because there was no trigger factor that made her the symbol. For example, Katniss's "girl on fire" is the equivalence to Mare's "ligting girl." It was publicly displayed and is something everyone can remember but she still wasn't a symbol. However Katniss became the "mokingjay" when Rue died and that was by simply showing an act of sympathy and kindness towards the girl. It was her trigger, she wasn't doing it to start something she just simply wanted to grieve. Nobody realized that her show of heart would spark a revolution and give so much hope but it did. Mare didn't have that, she just joined and outright tried to change things because she wanted revenge for a brother that was presumed dead. Mare had every right to be angry but revenge is not a good reason to become something, she expected change, Katniss didn't. To me there was just no spark to Mare's "lighting girl." Mare may have tried to save certain people but what she was doing was no better than the Silvers. She claims she's fighting for equality but she just keeps dividing things, making it worse. As said by Cameron, "Gambling with out families,our lives, while you ran and hid in the woods...you think you're some kind of hero, flying around saving everyone you think is special...Newbloods, silverbloods, redbloods, it's all the same....division, favoring one over the other. You're on the hunt for people like you, to protct them, train them, to make them fight your war. Not because they want to but because you need them...you're doing exactly what they did...look where that road led. A hundred years from now a newblood king will sit the throne you built him on the skulls of children." Mare can claim all she wants about looking out for the ones who need it but she's doing exatcly what the King did. She's making reckless decisions and not staying long enough to see the damages she's caused. She may be aware of the things she has done but she consistently does the same thing all over again. The only difference is it affects someone different everytime. It's one thing to admit when you've done wrong but it means absolutely nothing when you keep doing it over and over again. P. S. I check hourly to see if you have replied because I love to hear what you have to say. Not many people can listen to different perspectives without getting overly snesitive on the topic so I'm glad that I can do that with you. I also enjoy hearing why you disagree with some things I've said (I hate when someone diagrees and then not tell me why) and love that we can also agree and talk about plenty of other things. Looking forwar to your next rely :) P. P. S. I'm glad you can overlook all the grammer/spelling mistakes I've made. I apologize for them, I just get really excited when replying to you XD.